I think BlackBird was wise in saying that such issues tend to distract us from practice and lead to no positive outcome for ourselves or others.

If anything, it is good to examine how our identity and a sense of belonging shape and bias our views. For instance, PP, I am quite sure that had you been born in the West Bank, right now your views would've been very different. We can examine history and politics and know volumes on the stuff, but be blind to our biases. Israel-Palestine issues are not comparable with the Burmese Muslim issue just because the word "Muslim" that occurs in both cases.

But I find that you are a well-meaning gentle poster who deals with criticism well, so I hope rather than label different views as "anti-Israel", "pro-Muslim" etc, you take it on board and examine the source of your view, the emotional underpinning.

Israel-Palestine issues are not comparable with the Burmese Muslim issue just because the word "Muslim" that occurs in both cases.

Hi dan you are completely right and if you look at my last post thats exactly what i said

and to clearfy i did read some articles on burma and it did look very familiar to me and made me get the conclusion that its un-balanced so the un-balanced thing is not purely an emotional response

PP, I am quite sure that had you been born in the West Bank

but this is just one nice example that i just cant let go - its "judea and samaria" and the fact that the media calls it the west bank shows its leaning

truth is i planned to delete my post soon after posting but i already got a response and felt its my duty to defend the position for sake of balance and for someone to say the opposite because no one did - even if it wasnt the right view - and that was a mistake

Well, Judah and Shomron are ancient names for the ancient kindoms (that at various times included that specific area) that bear a historic connection with the Jewish people. The area commonly known as the West Bank has had a history prior to the establishment of these ancient kingdoms and certainly since their fall. Unless you believe that it was given by God to the Jewish people for all eternity, these names are just some of the names, not more important than others.

The names have a great impact on the minds of people (minds in a non-buddhist way lol) its like malvinas/falklands the name has very strong political implications

the west bank is mainly know that way because the Jordanians named it that way the Jordanians ruled the land from 1948 to 1967 (the british 1918-1948 before them used it as a term for everything that is west to the river jordan which makes sense but its not what we call "west bank" ) so israel is ruling all of israel from 1948-2014 and want to call the land Judea and Samaria (and specifically judea and samaria from 1967) not sure but its logical : that the few jews that lived before British rule in Palestine probably called it in the names Judea and Samaria (of course not combined cause this are two different areas that the Jordanians were the one that gave them a single name) and i would guess that the few muslims who lived in Palestine ( Palestine another name that has political issues) probably also called it Judea and Samaria - so notice that the name that was chosen was that , that the short Jordanian rule that was seen as illegal by many country's has given it

but its a really complicated topic - i just wanted to show the leaning of the media that how jews want to call it A (rightfully or wrongly) and muslims want to call it B (rightfully or wrongly) - and the media calls it B shows it is a bit biased - its not a single reason why i think the media is biased its just another reason which i dont think would have happened if buddhists or Christians would have been involved instead of muslims

feel free to reply dan - i might reply but i am trying to avoid reading this thread - theres a 50% chance that i will do it actually lol so write whatever you want but im not sure i would reply - just saying its not cause i dont have an answer im taking the liberty to explain myself here cause this thread is derailed already and while in hot topics no one sees it -

Goob you can open a new thread about the same subject maybe and i wouldnt reply to it so feel free to do so - or to open any other thread about burma situation